Silly Cat

What a long day I had. It started with assembling a new nightstand for our guest room. I mostly mention that as an explanation for the photograph. The cat assumed that I made this object for him and climbed inside just as soon as there was an inside for him to climb into.

After that project the kids were off with their grandparents for the day, so I had errands to run. Then with an empty house, I had their gifts to wrap. That was followed by cleaning bathrooms, my favorite. I wrapped the free time by watching some Black Mirror and making more gift bracelets.

Late in the evening I got an order in the shop for a couple of necklaces, so I packed those right up and popped them in the mailbox so they'd be out first thing this morning. At least one of them definitely needs to be remade straight away so I'll start with that today. Of course there is still more cleaning and preparing for hosting house guests, so I'm guessing my day will be busy one way or another.

Cleaned

I cleaned yesterday, so consequently I have nothing much to share with you. I hadn't bothered to do any real cleaning in quite awhile as we'd had no guests planned. I mean I pick up, and do laundry, and dishes, and that sort of thing, but that's about it. This week we are having family over, so I made an effort. Since that left me with no new thread art to share, I grabbed another photo from our Sequoia trip to post instead.

There will likely be a little more cleaning today, but I'm hoping for at least a little knotting or tatting, if I can think of a reason to do so. Otherwise, it'll just be more enormous trees tomorrow.

Relief

Sweet relief. I got so many things done yesterday that I am finally mostly stress free about the upcoming holidays and the guests they bring. I cleaned most of the house including the dreaded bathrooms. I finished tatting up snowflakes and got them glittered and finished. I cut, folded, and assembled countless pillow boxes to wrap all the presents in. Of course that part came with a slight X-Acto knife injury to the tip of my index finger that is currently making typing less than comfortable.

The best thing that happened yesterday was definitely the conclusion to the most recent missing package saga. The wonderful customer whose tracking erroneously said the package was delivered went to her local post office with the tracking info and was informed that the package was there, but opened. Seems it was likely a caught red handed postal employee moment. The good news is the inner wrapping was not disturbed and the custom made gift that it contains can now be given. This development reduced my stress level immensely and I am so glad for the customer as well.

They'll be just a bit more cleaning this morning before my brother and sister-in-law arrive and then I can sit down, visit, and maybe tat for pleasure. The rest of the week should be busy, but the good busy that comes from family gatherings, not shipping deadlines. 

Current & Final Etsy Shop Sale: 10% off with the code HOLIDAY10. Code is good through Dec. 27

That's Done

I realized I was running out of time yesterday while I was writing here, so I set about to get a few things actually done. I started by cleaning out and prepping one guest room. That included washing sheets and relocating various piles of accumulated stuff. When that was done, I pulled out the fabric and staple gun and finished upholstering all the chairs. It was at this time that I regretted buying the least expensive staple gun as it continued to misfire on me. My level of frustration was extremely high. I did manage to finish all of them though. Then it was cleaning off a couple of counters until lunch and the other guest room started after lunch.

We even managed to wrap up most of the remaining holiday shopping in the evening. I still have wrapping to do and my hands are killing me after the chairs, but I feel ever so slightly less stressed out about the weekend. The kids last day of schooling is today as well, so I think I might just collapse into ball this evening, maybe with a bottle of wine. Hopefully I'll do something creative over the weekend to share, but there aren't good odds for that happening.

Current Etsy Shop Sale: 15% off with the code HOLIDAY215. Code is good through Dec. 20

New Pattern Listed!

So I actually can't remember if I got round to doing anything worth while on Friday. Oh wait, that's right I used the time to clean again. This time I tackled the children's ever expanding Lego collection that was being overtaken by dust bunnies courtesy of the cats.

Saturday's projects were many, but let me start with the one might care about. The new tatting pattern was finished being test tatted by the lovely Kersti. After being given several incredible and useful notes with which to improve the pattern, I got it edited and up in the shop. I'm calling it Gothic Doily, though the pattern contains directions for stopping in order to create the pendant and the smaller doily version as well. I've been assured that it can be worked with a shuttle as well and since all the weaving is done with chains, you may not even need a Celtic shuttle to do so. I have already sold a few copies of this, so that's a good sign. It's my longest written pattern yet and I sure hope everyone who picks it up loves making it!

Other Saturday projects included cleaning up half the garage which gave me nightmare juice as well as some high quality allergy attacks. Then by way of relaxing afterwards I made up this cute little crochet pig as a birthday gift for one of my nieces. The pattern is here. The top hat was my addition. Well it was mine after the husband continued to insist that the pig needed a sombrero. I insisted it didn't, repeatedly. Then he changed his tactic to top hat and I finally caved and made one up. I admit, it looks extra cute with a hat.

Sunday was the great winter wardrobe change for the girls. Old outgrown clothes were put boxed up, winter clothes that still fit brought out and summer put away. I also earned more lovely allergy attacks from the boxed clothes. Before you ask yes I had taken allergy medication before both cleaning jobs. The allergens just proved stronger. All this gave me great exhaustion last night and I slept like a log.

 I'm hoping that this week will contain no cleaning and plenty of making. I got another sale in the shop over the weekend, though it was for something that I don't need to remake. That means i am starting this week with no projects in mine. Of course I've been managing to keep myself busy regardless. Here's hoping I don't need to think too hard to do so.

Less Than Fun

I'm afraid all the weekend had in mind for me was a ton of work and really not a bit of relaxing. Sure, I sat a lot after cleaning, but it was not relaxing. Well, let me back up a bit, I didn't hear from the buyer with the missing package all weekend and since the whole matter of missing packages stresses me out, I simply decided to remake all the lost pieces 'just in case'. So every time I got to sit, it was to work on those pieces. When I wasn't sitting, I was cleaning.

The husband had decided that we should get the carpets clean before the holidays, since 6 cats make them, well, less than pretty even with regular vacuuming. This meant I was using the carpet cleaner to deep clean them all after he vacuumed. It's times like these that I seriously regret purchasing a two story house. Anyway, the carpet cleaner made my hands sore, well it made all of me sore, but my hands specifically, which meant sitting down to tat when I was done with a few rooms was less than relaxing. I felt like I was on a 'just in case' deadline though, so I needed to work fast.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm tired and have little to show for it. To make matters worse, I emailed the customer again last night, this time directly, to find out what they preferred and wouldn't you know it, I heard back this morning that they would prefer a refund. This means I now have double pieces that I don't really need to have on hand and money I don't have until the shipping insurance, hopefully, pays out to refund. I do not like the look of the week to come. I sure hope that the Universe proves me wrong on this one.

Cleaning

What a long day of cleaning. So many floors, so many cats to make them filthy. I managed to give most of the house a once over. All that will be left for Saturday is the final clean up in the kitchen. I find that cleaning anything too well, too early, is undone with extreme swiftness. So today I'll likely be worried all day about messes that have yet to happen and developed a nervous tick of looking toward any small noise.

I didn't get much tatting done at all. First, there was all the cleaning, then there was the simple monotony of this particular piece. The center in interesting to create and the outer round has complexity, but the inner round is made up of the same motif over, and over again. Of course the repetition almost always leads to me making minor mistakes only caught when trying to add the next motif. This leads to me cutting out work and starting over and it is mind numbing.

Guess what though? Yeah, that's exactly what I get to get back to today. I might take a snowflake break just to change things up a bit. I get bored with them as well, but perhaps alternating projects will get them both done faster with less mind melt for me. Here's hoping. I'm also hoping that the weekend brings some rest and perhaps something pleasantly surprising or interesting. Just putting that out there for the Universe to see.

Tired and Sore

Oh, what a busy weekend. Of course the reason it was busy had nothing to do with tatting, nor was any of it really my idea. The husband had decided a while ago to try and clean/rescue the items stored in the attic space of his parents garage. Rescue, because years of cats agilely  jumping up there and handling business has put many of those things at severe risk of destruction and many more of them already destroyed. I had planned to clean the kids room and cull their clothing while he was off and I did so for 3 hours in the morning. Then I got a text asking if I was finished enough to "help." I foolishly replied that I was. I then spend the next 3 hours or so sorting through boxes, tossing, keeping and sneezing. It was a long, tiring day,

I thought Sunday would be calmer, but there was a little more of the same in the morning, followed by copious amount of laundry from my Saturday clothing culling project. I am sore and tired and I have boxes of old toys from the 80's sitting in our computer room awaiting cleaning. It really was a long weekend.

I did mange a good sit on Sunday afternoon to watch a show. I also used that time to do a little tatted doodling. Nothing big, nor too interesting, but I needed to do something with my hands that wouldn't contribute to the soreness. So this is what I came up with. I may muck about with it today if I get some time. Otherwise I sold nothing over the weekend, so I have nothing in queue. The cat picture up there was taken during my bedroom cleaning and I thought they were cute, so I posted it. So here's to a nice quite, normal week. Hopefully there will be a little more creativity, a few good sales and absolutely no more cleaning projects.

Mondays

Well it definitely wasn't much of a Monday. Normally that may be assumed to be a good thing, but not this time. Along with some extra adventuring, the husband was determined to clean our computer room. Some people have a study, we have a room of computers and I have one quarter of it...maybe. So, since he wanted to clean, I got to clean too. That was most of the day.

I did sneak off after I had finished most of my side to finally get the new bracelet listed. I was quite flattered that it was favorited by several people quite quickly. It's been a long time since a piece got that reaction. Of course, I'm getting desperate for sales again, so I was hoping for more. I will, of course, take what I can get.

Aside from the cleaning and the listing, I did very little yesterday. My excuse is that all that cleaning caused massive dust allergies and that sapped my will to accomplish anything larger than getting a snack or swiping a screen on my phone.

So that brings us to today. Schooling is back in session and I'm hoping the return to routine has me spending some time with a needle and thread in my hand. I need a little creative meditation and a day without dust.

Tomorrow

The weekend held, basically, exactly what I thought it would. There was some adventuring and too much cleaning. There was very little tatting though. Friday was a long day of schooling followed by kitchen cleaning because we were having guests over on Saturday. Saturday had a little more cleaning, and much more errand running, but it ended with a gathering of friends, which we needed badly.

Sunday was the day that killed me though. I decided to use the carpet cleaner in our bedroom, also known as the cat's room, where they most often chose to do those things people hate cats for. Halfway though cleaning the brushes on the machine stopped spinning. Thank the gods for the Internet and YouTube, because without them I wouldn't have been able to fix it myself and finish cleaning. Of course I managed to destroy all of my nails in the process. At least the torn one doesn't look out of place anymore.

I did spend yesterday evening making up some more pendants for tomorrow. I wanted to have it done in a few more colors for the listing. So today I'll be getting the listings ready so I can put them up first thing tomorrow. I really do hope you all like the pendant and the pattern for it. It's a simple piece, of course, but I think it have a lovely and fairly unique look. Here's to tatting and tomorrow then.

Cleaning

Another long weekend, but not for any particularly good reasons. There were no great creation innovations, no large sales to keep me busy. No, instead we got new things in the post and I had to spend much time assembling and playing with them. The saddest part about this, is they were cleaning implements and I was excited to use them. Seriously, how sad is that?

Over the weekend I got a new carpet cleaner and steam mop. Both of mine had died just after the holidays, but they aren't exactly cheap items so I had to wait until tax time to replace them. Of course this means that things that ought to be cleaned often, weren't. So as soon as I got them, I had to try them out. Yes, it was a sad weekend.

I did tat up something, but it really isn't anything new. I used the new Twirlz thread to make up a pair of earrings in one of the patterns I often use. It was lamented that this thread really doesn't photograph well and I agree, it really is much neater in person. Hopefully I get them listed today, but it's unlikely that I'll make anything else with the thread unless requested. Maybe once they release it in size 10, I'll play some more.

I'm afraid I might spend more time cleaning today. It's a sad realization that as much as I don't like cleaning, I much prefer it when my house is clean. Barring any orders that take precedence over much of anything, I'm probably cleaning. So here's to a great big order for today, so I can tat all day with purpose and without guilt!

Whew

I feel a bit like a broken record, but man was yesterday a frustrating slog of a day. The children's school site is still undergoing great difficulties which seem to be the result of some sort of attack on the site. This means we're constantly being kicked out of the site and having to constantly try to get back in, so schooling takes longer and is slightly more rage inducing. To make matters more complicated, there was a teacher meeting in the morning we had to go to as well as errands that needed running before we could get back to schooling to finish it.

Then there was the floor cleaning, more laundry, counters and a dozen other small tasks including some awkward email exchanges most of which were never resolved. I am honestly sore this morning and a bit mentally exhausted. It wasn't until late afternoon that I was able to sit down and tat anything. I was fortune to get a bracelet order in, so I remade that for my sitting time. This one is a little fiddly to make with the woven sections and the false ends, but I do like the way it looks. I made so many of these in multiple colors and none of them got the least bit interest save for this one in sepia tones.

The choker is done save for hardware and since most of my cleaning is done, there is a slight possibility that it will get photographed and into the shop today. Our house guests will be here sometime this afternoon, so I don't think there will be much else accomplished for the day aside from that though. Honestly I'm just hoping for an all around calmer and more positive day, so here's to that.

Clean

As I feared, I have nothing really interesting to share with you today. Instead you get to hear all about my day of cleaning house. Yep, that's all I've got, take it or leave it. There was copious amounts of laundry as I cleaned all the afghans on the furniture. Yes, I have afghans I made on all my chairs. Then there was the dishes followed by hours of cleaning floors. I took it upon myself to try and get all the cat fur out of the rugs. Not the carpet mind you, but those nice dense, mostly black patterned Indian looking rugs. I figure out that the upholstery tool scrapes it up...one small section at a time. It took forever, but the white cat fur that made the rugs mostly gray has been removed...for the most part.

I pause here to complain that I am sore all over this morning. Apparently using this cleaning method on two room sized rugs and a hall runner takes it's toll on ones body.

After all that I did take a break to work on a couple of custom orders, but I didn't stop for pictures. Then I was back to cleaning counters in the kitchen and there are quite a lot of those. Late in the evening my brother popped over to stay for a few days over the holiday and much of the family will be over later today to eat. I imagine that I won't get to tatting today at all since after we eat, I clean and clean some more. I will be massively sore tomorrow I imagine.

I thought I'd leave you with this video I saw yesterday of 25 little know facts about Thanksgiving. Some of it I knew, some just amused me. It was either this or cats with wigs, so here you go.

Weekend Recap

Oh, where to start? You see, my grandfather is coming to visit this week and will of course be staying with us, so the weekend needed to have a fair amount of cleaning in it along with the usual adventuring. I try to keep the house at a tolerable level of clean all the time, but we use the excuse of guests to do deep cleaning and clear away the clutter. We spent the weekend cleaning counters and tables off, doing laundry, vacuuming furniture and finally on Sunday afternoon I get out the carpet cleaner to take care of a layer of what six cats do to the carpet. Then, it broke...the carpet cleaner. It just choked, sputtered and died halfway through the living room carpet. This left me with the task of cleaning the stain left by the dying carpet cleaner with the little spot bot thing meant for small stains as well as the rest of the stains I hadn't yet gotten to. It was, tedious and bothersome...and now we need to buy a new carpet cleaner, fun.

At least the Universe was fair. While I was struggling with things breaking and making my life harder, it was sending me sales. The weekend felt back to normal with sales coming in everyday. So I start the week with a couple of custom pieces to make and a whole new queue of pieces that need remaking. Of course with the visit from my grandpa, my mother-in-law's birthday, a school filed trip on Friday as well as a bunch of other things I'm worrying about, I'm already feeling swamped and the sun hasn't even risen on this Monday yet. I suppose I'll just take a deep breath and tackle one thing at a time and just hope nothing else piles on. I have a bad feeling something is just waiting to pile on though, so Universe, if you're listening, some strength and patience for the week would be grand. Here's to the start of the new week.

I Blame The Weather

Apparently it was still not possible to go a whole day without cleaning something. This time it was just a few odds and ends though. Walls, it was walls I cleaned. You see our house was painted with flat white paint because apparently it's the cheapest. Personally, I think it's a creation of evil as it picks up all dirt and refuses to give it back unless you want to take the paint with it too. A gentle hand, a magic eraser, and I was able to take the edge off of a couple of rooms though. One day we'll repaint this place...not anytime soon of course, but one day.

We've been spending more time schooling lately so I generally only have time for tatting well after lunch. I did get one necklace remade though that still leaves another in queue. I just kept getting distracted by other things. I can't even seem to list what they were at this point, but they were very distracting yesterday. I think it might be the change in weather messing with my concentration. It's finally started to really cool down at least at night and I'm so looking forward to the cozy days ahead. Not the bitter cold ones after those though. I could definitely do without those, but cool and cozy I'm ready for. It's like I feel as though I need to get ready by cleaning or something because soon the light will be gone.

Well here's hoping I at least take a picture of something interesting for tomorrow's post. Heck, while I'm hoping, lets' go for many sales, lot's of new ideas and maybe today I can avoid any major cleaning. It could happen, you don't know, the world is full of surprises.

Can't Say It Was Boring

Leave it to a Monday to treat me this way. The cleaning mood that afflicted me over the weekend had not yet abated, so I spent my morning after schooling, cleaning floors. I lugged out the carpet cleaner and took care of the floor in the guest room before the holidays turn it back into a guest room from the storage/treadmill room that it is now. Then it was the living room rug whose dirt content was honestly disturbing.

I couldn't just sit down after that either, there was laundry and random other tasks that kept me running about. Then after lunch I had paperwork to gather to send in to the kids' teachers and I managed to again keep busy with that and finally answering weekend emails until my eye appointment. It was the fastest appointment ever because they had only one trial contact in...not two. Of course this means at least two more trips until I get my new pack of contacts. I know, fun, right?

Once I was home, I did sit down and finish remaking a sold necklace. I was feeling pretty good about all the things I had accomplished in the day. Then I starting making dinner and my vision went wonky. It took me a minute or two to remember that migraine with aura I had about a year ago and realize that this was that aura nonsense again. I warned the family that I could no longer see right and that I was about to go down soon and the oldest child helped me cook dinner. I spent the rest of the evening pretty much incapacitated in a dark room with an ice pack. To all of you out there that experience these things on a regular basis, you have my sincerest sympathies. That was only my second one and I'm feeling fine this morning so hopefully it will be another year before I get to have that joy again.

There are still a couple of pieces in queue to be remade and I have no other plans today. Here's hoping for a nice, uneventful, cleaning and headache free Tuesday with plenty of relaxing tatting.

So Sore

I had quite hoped to get distracted by adventuring over the weekend. Instead I let myself fall into one of those rare and frightening 'cleaning' moods. They rarely strike, but when they do, I just keep finding things around the house that need doing. It all started because I had been avoiding some yard work due to heat. Once I tackled that on a very cool Saturday morning, I had to keep going. There was vacuuming, generally tidying and on Sunday I tackled the bathrooms including the floors, which I never do and even attempted some wall cleaning. Flat paint was made by the devil, by the way. I am crazy sore this morning, but I still want to clean more things. The urge will pass soon, I hope.

I did get a couple of orders over the weekend, so there was tatting, just not an awful lot of it. Instead I found other creative things to do when I had a spare moment. I was actually a little afraid to sit down for fear the soreness would settle in my muscles and I wouldn't get back up.

I made necklaces with the beads the kids got at the Ren Faire last weekend. We made the Lowe's project that we skipped  when we went to said Ren Faire. Then there was a trip to the, already on sale, Halloween section at Michael's where I picked up some paper mache skulls that I painted white. They'll eventually become sugar skulls, I imagine. I know there was more and don't get me started on the list of emails I need to return today. Here's to a nice low key Monday so I can ease back into normality.

Another Gone

Well I have good news to report about the green necklace I showed you yesterday. Like the red piece, it was picked up quite quickly yesterday and will be heading to a good home this morning. It really is one fabulous feeling when something finds an owner so quickly. These are the moments that recharge my drive and remind me, after bouts of silence and slow sales, that there are people out there who do appreciate the work that I do. In fact these are the moments when I feel like a real artist as opposed to most days when I feel a little like an overworked thread slave or ignored cog in the household machine. I much prefer the ego boosting days.

Other than that though, we had a teacher meeting with assessments for the youngest at the book store. So I stalled until that because I knew as soon as we were home I was going to tackle some more bathroom cleaning. I love having three bathrooms except when I need to clean them. The worst one is the kids of course, not because they're horribly messy except for the toothpaste, but because I never go in there which means it's neglected until I clean everything in the house. I still have the kitchen to tackle and the floors in the rooms that will serve as guest rooms and I can feel time slipping away. Hopefully I'll get the bulk of that done this weekend.

Back to tatting though, I remade one piece yesterday afternoon and I got an order for a custom necklace from one of my favorite customers that I will be working on today. Of course I do have lots of favorite customers which is also a much needed ego boost. If I get caught up on those things this weekend I'm going to try to get back to the art project so I can try out my something more ideas before they slip right out of my brain. Man, is this time of year exhausting.

The Mess No More

What a fine motivation exposing your mess to the world is. Really without the need to show you that I clean up good...I would have likely not cleaned up at all. Now if you missed yesterday, you're gonna wanna scroll down to what this exact space looked like before I got my clean on. It wasn't easy but I pulled out every jewelry making supply I have acquired and no only got them put away in that slick snap together thing, but they are organized in there too. There's a drawer for silver, one for brass and copper, one for crystals and other for pearls and rounds. In fact I can actually work directly out of the cubbyholes since the snap apart.

I figured I would just clean on cleaning since that had worked out so well and show you the rest of the cleanliness. Now to be honest I spend little time actually working at the desk. I use it to blog, to ship and to assemble jewelry. The actually tatting is done in the comfort of the living room. Here on the right you'll see the three tubs that hold most of my thread and ribbons. There's also a box under the desk with just the black thread...remember the 50 balls. The other drawer sets are full of yarn and miscellaneous crap. The desk drawers there are where the finished jewelry lies. You can also spy my mannequin, my photo box and tripod. The point is that it's clean now, though it won't last long.

I did also tat a bit, but not as much as I hoped. While going through the supplies I found yet another large focal piece to add to a necklace. I had to dig through the thread to find just the perfect shade that would match both the pendant and the brass chain you knew I was going to use. I ended up with a creamy tan cebelia thread. There are hints of brass and copper flecks in the glass leave and it complimented those the best. Fair warning, I found a couple more bits and bobs in the supply box that might get this same treatment too. The tatting portion is simple, but finding the perfect thread and complimentary beads provides a fun distraction from more complex pieces.

I don't have any specific projects on tap for today, so we'll just see which way the wind doth blow. Seriously though it's been really windy here lately both metaphorically and actually. Whichever way though, it's been a much better week than last and here's hoping the trend continues.

The Mess

I spent much of yesterday morning cleaning. No particular reason other than I hadn't done it in a while. Frankly there is quite a lot more of that to do and without the threat of house guests it is difficult to get motivated. I tend to let things clutter, take my desk here for example. This is just a small portion of my mess. baggies full of beads overflowing what was once an organized tub. The thread for the most part sits in tubs just fine until I start taking out too many colors and not putting them back when I'm done.

There was a reason I brought this mess up aside from just being a horror show. I dug thought this mess yesterday and came out with a large clear crystal teardrop and decided to make something all spur of the moment and I came up with this one. Again I used that same vintage pattern bit which is absolutely perfect to hand something from and I added the crystal. Then to make it a little more finished looking I added two glass pearls on wither side and attached the whole lot to brass chain giving it a slightly antique feel. I really love making these one of a kind pieces with bits I didn't even remember I had lying about.

When I shared the creation yesterday I was asked about the supply box which I said I had fished the crystal out of. I was forced to admit that it was more of a pile that started in a supply box and oozed all over the desk. So I was encouraged to pick up a new set of supply boxes last night and today I shall attempt to organize the supplies. I might even get my label on as they are snap together boxes and it would be nice to not have to dig though them all to find something. Such it might take away from the treasure hunt feel of getting findings for a piece, but then I can show you a picture of a clean desk with a neat box of supplies and you can be jealous instead of sad. I would like to point out that my finished pieces are neatly put away in tubs and then tuck away in a large drawer safe from the mess. That pile of lace you see in the picture is largely my own pieces and prototypes that I use while designing and then clearly toss carelessly in a pile.

So aside from the great organizing plan, I hope to get another spur of the moment piece started. I had a new mask thought yesterday as well, so there's a slight chance that might get some time today. It all depends on that desk pile bending to my will in a timely manner. So, yeah it doesn't seem all that likely, but one day soon anyway.